The Process of Entrepreneurial Learning: A Conceptual Framework

The present article seeks to advance the theoretical knowledge of entrepreneurial learning by reviewing and synthesizing available research into a conceptual framework that explains the process of entrepreneurial learning as an experiential process. The framework identifies three main components in the process of entrepreneurial learning: entrepreneurs’ career experience, the transformation process, and entrepreneurial knowledge in terms of effectiveness in recognizing and acting on entrepreneurial opportunities and coping with the liabilities of newness. Based on the arguments in the article, five major propositions were developed to refine our understanding of entrepreneurial learning. Finally, theoretical and practical implications were discussed.

[1]  Davide Ravasi,et al.  Learning in Entrepreneurial Firms: and Exploratory study , 2004 .

[2]  S. Shane A General Theory of Entrepreneurship: The Individual-Opportunity Nexus , 2003 .

[3]  Scott Shane,et al.  Bringing individuals back in: the effects of career experience on new firm founding , 2003 .

[4]  Christopher L. Shook,et al.  Venture Creation and the Enterprising Individual: A Review and Synthesis , 2003 .

[5]  Rikard Larsson,et al.  International growth through cooperation: Brand-driven strategies, leadership, and career development in Sweden , 2003 .

[6]  S. Shane A General Theory of Entrepreneurship , 2003 .

[7]  Marc Gruber,et al.  Global Entrepreneurship Monitor , 2003 .

[8]  Richard N. Cardozo,et al.  A theory of entrepreneurial opportunity identification and development , 2003 .

[9]  D. Christopher Kayes,et al.  Experiential Learning and Its Critics: Preserving the Role of Experience in Management Learning and Education , 2002 .

[10]  C. B. Schoonhoven,et al.  3. The Local Origins of New Firms , 2002, The Entrepreneurship Dynamic.

[11]  S. Zahra,et al.  Absorptive Capacity: A Review, Reconceptualization, and Extension , 2002 .

[12]  David Stokes,et al.  Learning the hard way: the lessons of owner‐managers who have closed their businesses , 2002 .

[13]  Mikael Holmqvist,et al.  Career Dis-Integration and Re-Integration in Mergers and Acquisitions: Managing Competence and Motivational Intangibles , 2001 .

[14]  David Rae,et al.  Towards a conceptual understanding of entrepreneurial learning , 2001 .

[15]  S. Sarasvathy Causation and Effectuation: Toward a Theoretical Shift from Economic Inevitability to Entrepreneurial Contingency , 2001 .

[16]  William D. Bygrave,et al.  A Dynamic Model of Entrepreneurial Learning , 2001 .

[17]  P. Davidsson,et al.  THE ROLE OF SOCIAL AND HUMAN CAPITAL AMONG NASCENT ENTREPRENEURS. , 2000 .

[18]  Robert S. Sullivan Entrepreneurial learning and mentoring , 2000 .

[19]  David Rae,et al.  Understanding entrepreneurial learning: a question of how? , 2000 .

[20]  J. Cope,et al.  Learning by doing – An exploration of experience, critical incidents and reflection in entrepreneurial learning , 2000 .

[21]  David Deakins,et al.  Executive Learning in Entrepreneurial Firms and the Role of External Directors , 2000 .

[22]  Per Davidsson,et al.  Where do they come from? Prevalence and characteristics of nascent entrepreneurs , 2000 .

[23]  S. Shane,et al.  The Promise of Entrepreneurship as a Field of Research , 2000 .

[24]  S. Shane,et al.  The Promise of Enterpreneurship as a Field of Research , 2000 .

[25]  Mikael Holmqvist Balancing Exploitation and Exploration Within and Between Organisations , 2000 .

[26]  J A Shelly When the going gets tough. , 2000, Journal of Christian nursing : a quarterly publication of Nurses Christian Fellowship.

[27]  R. Hamilton,et al.  A Historical Perspective on Small Firm Development , 1999 .

[28]  Eileen Fischer,et al.  Understanding the Consequences of Founders' Experience , 1999 .

[29]  Mark P. Taylor,et al.  SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST? AN ANALYSIS OF SELF- EMPLOYMENT DURATION IN BRITAIN* , 1999 .

[30]  Rita Gunther McGrath Falling Forward: Real Options Reasoning and Entrepreneurial Failure , 1999 .

[31]  S. Spinelli,et al.  New Venture Creation: Entrepreneurship for the 21st Century , 1999 .

[32]  Bengt Johannisson,et al.  University Training for Entrepreneurship – An Action Frame of Reference ( article on European Journal of Engineering Education, 1998, reprint) , 1998 .

[33]  M. Freel,et al.  Entrepreneurial learning and the growth process in SMEs , 1998 .

[34]  Mike Wright,et al.  Editors’ Introduction: Habitual Entrepreneurs and Angel Investors , 1998 .

[35]  R. Baron Cognitive mechanisms in entrepreneurship: Why and when enterpreneurs think differently than other people , 1998 .

[36]  P. Rosa Entrepreneurial Processes of Business Cluster Formation and Growth by ‘Habitual’ Entrepreneurs , 1998 .

[37]  R. Vince Behind and Beyond Kolb's Learning Cycle , 1998 .

[38]  Michael Reynolds,et al.  Reflection and Critical Reflection in Management Learning , 1998 .

[39]  M. Wright,et al.  Novice, portfolio, and serial founders: are they different? , 1998 .

[40]  J. Brüderl,et al.  Network Support and the Success of Newly Founded Business , 1998 .

[41]  Sven Ripsas Towards an Interdisciplinary Theory of Entrepreneurship , 1998 .

[42]  Johan Wiklund Small Firm Growth and Performance : Entrepreneurship and Beyond , 1998 .

[43]  D. Shepherd,et al.  New venture survival: Ignorance, external shocks, and risk reduction strategies , 2000 .

[44]  Carolyn Y. Woo,et al.  Survival of the Fittest? Entrepreneurial Human Capital and the Persistence of Underperforming Firms , 1997 .

[45]  H. Sapienza,et al.  Founder Characteristics, Start-Up Process, and Strategy/Structure Variables as Predictors of Shortline Railroad Performance , 1997 .

[46]  Mike Wright,et al.  Venture capitalists and serial entrepreneurs , 1997 .

[47]  A. Gibb Small Firms' Training and Competitiveness. Building Upon the Small business as a Learning Organisation , 1997 .

[48]  Lowell W. Busenitz,et al.  Differences between entrepreneurs and managers in large organizations: Biases and heuristics in strategic decision-making , 1997 .

[49]  Kenneth R. Brousseau,et al.  Career pandemonium: Realigning organizations and individuals , 1996 .

[50]  James A. Belohlav,et al.  Legal Issues in Multinational Business Strategy: To Play the Game, You Have To Know the Rules , 1996 .

[51]  Kelly G. Shaver,et al.  A longitudinal study of cognitive factors influencing start-up behaviors and success at venture creation , 1995 .

[52]  Carolyn Y. Woo,et al.  Entrepreneurial information search , 1995 .

[53]  Jerome A. Katz Modelling Entrepreneurial Career Progressions: Concepts and Considerations , 1995 .

[54]  W. Dyer,et al.  Toward a Theory of Entrepreneurial Careers , 1995 .

[55]  I. Marshall,et al.  HABITUAL OWNERS OF SMALL BUSINESSES PARTNERSHIPS FOR GROWTH , 1995 .

[56]  Eileen Fischer,et al.  Entrepreneurs' experience, expertise, and the performance of technology-based firms , 1994 .

[57]  D. Storey Understanding the small business sector , 1994 .

[58]  A. W. McArthur,et al.  Contracting Strategies in Entrepreneurial and Established Firms , 1994 .

[59]  Steve H. Barr,et al.  A Contingency Model of New Manufacturing Firm Performance , 1994 .

[60]  Daniel A. Levinthal,et al.  The myopia of learning , 1993 .

[61]  P. Ghemawat,et al.  Organizational tension between static and dynamic efficiency, The , 1993 .

[62]  A. Rebecca Reuber,et al.  An Inter-Industry Examination of the Impact of Owner Experience on Firm Performance , 1992 .

[63]  Erkki K. Laitinen,et al.  Prediction of failure of a newly founded firm , 1992 .

[64]  J. Brüderl,et al.  Survival Chances of Newly Founded Business Organizations , 1992 .

[65]  S. Sitkin Learning Through Failure : The Strategy of Small Losses , 1992 .

[66]  J. March Exploration and exploitation in organizational learning , 1991, STUDI ORGANIZZATIVI.

[67]  B. Gilad,et al.  Characteristics of Opportunities Search of Entrepreneurs Versus Executives: Sources, Interests, General Alertness , 1991 .

[68]  Robert H. Keeley,et al.  Management, strategy, and industry structure as influences on the success of new firms: a structural model , 1990 .

[69]  William B. Gartner,et al.  A profile of new venture success and failure in an emerging industry , 1990 .

[70]  A. Rebecca Reuber,et al.  EXPERIENTIALLY ACQUIRED KNOWLEDGE AND ENTREPRENEURIAL VENTURE SUCCESS. , 1990 .

[71]  P. A. Abetti,et al.  Impact of entrepreneurial and management experience on early performance , 1990 .

[72]  Daniel A. Levinthal,et al.  ABSORPTIVE CAPACITY: A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON LEARNING AND INNOVATION , 1990 .

[73]  Carolyn Y. Woo,et al.  Entrepreneurship and the initial size of firms , 1989 .

[74]  Robert Ronstadt,et al.  The Corridor Principle , 1988 .

[75]  W. Gartner “Who Is an Entrepreneur?” Is the Wrong Question , 1988 .

[76]  Charles W. Hofer,et al.  Improving New Venture Performance: The Role of Strategy, Industry Structure, and the Entrepreneur , 1987 .

[77]  Glenn R. Carroll,et al.  The Career Dynamics of Self-Employment , 1987 .

[78]  James G. March,et al.  Adaptive Coordination of a Learning Team , 1987 .

[79]  Hubert L. Dreyfus,et al.  Mind over Machine: The Power of Human Intuition and Expertise in the Era of the Computer , 1987, IEEE Expert.

[80]  I. MacMillan,et al.  Comments from the editors , 1986 .

[81]  Peter Johnson,et al.  New firms - an economic perspective , 1986 .

[82]  Howard E. Aldrich,et al.  Even Dwarfs Started Small: Liabilities of Age and Size and Their Strategic Implications , 1986 .

[83]  G. Pinchot,et al.  Intrapreneuring: Why You Don't Have to Leave the Corporation to Become an Entrepreneur , 1985 .

[84]  K. Weick Small wins: Redefining the scale of social problems. , 1984 .

[85]  D. Kolb Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development , 1983 .

[86]  Araújo,et al.  An Evolutionary theory of economic change , 1983 .

[87]  Edgar H. Schein,et al.  Individuals and Careers , 1983 .

[88]  D. Schoen The Reflective Practitioner , 1983 .

[89]  S. Winter,et al.  An evolutionary theory of economic change , 1983 .

[90]  Henry Mintzberg,et al.  Tracking Strategy in an Entrepreneurial Firm1 , 1982 .

[91]  K. Vesper New venture strategies , 1979 .

[92]  Orvis F. Collins,et al.  The organization makers : a behavioral study of independent entrepreneurs , 1970 .

[93]  M. Shubik,et al.  A Behavioral Theory of the Firm. , 1964 .

[94]  Robert C. Davis,et al.  The Achieving Society , 1962 .